You’re coming to the hospital to give birth.

You’ve had a hip replacement and now will have a hospital stay to complete rehabilitation.

There are a lot of things swirling through your mind, notably thoughts like “Am I going to be OK?”

Questions like “Where is my toothbrush?” are probably on the backburner. That’s why it’s a good idea to make a “hospital essential items” checklist now.

Kurt Bloomstrand, MD, sees these scenarios plenty while providing care in the emergency department at OSF HealthCare. He says a hospital will provide basic toiletries, blankets, food and clothing like a gown and socks. But some people prefer their own toiletries, clothes and snacks.

Other things to do and bring:

·       Write down your health information: health insurance, medications, medical history, name of your primary care provider, allergies and legal documents like power of attorney and a do not resuscitate order. Have an identification like a driver's license, too.

“Some people in the emergency department are not able to tell us their health information given what they’re presenting for. So, it’s so valuable to have basic health information written down,” Dr. Bloomstrand says. He adds that knowing your health information allows providers to care for you properly. You can also bring legal forms to your provider anytime to be added to your medical record.

·       Bring other items essential to your well-being: eyeglasses, contacts, hearing aids, dentures and a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP) for sleeping. Bring cases and batteries for these items, too.

·       When choosing clothes, opt for loose-fitting and short-sleeved garments.

“If you have an IV, a short-sleeved shirt is much better to access it than a long-sleeved shirt,” Dr. Bloomstrand says. “You can bring a robe to cover up.”

 

·       For moms giving birth, bring your birth plan in written form. Pack a few pairs of clothes for you and your baby.

“Babies notoriously spit up on their clothes,” Dr. Bloomstrand says with a smirk.

The hospital can provide diapers, wipes and a breast pump. But, you can bring your own if you prefer a certain type.

“Not only can you use your breast pump, the people at the hospital can teach you how to use it,” Dr. Bloomstrand says.

What babies don’t need at the hospital: rattles, books and toys. Save those memories for home.

·       Don’t overdo it with personal items and food. This can cause your room to get cluttered and create a trip hazard. Have someone who can take unneeded items home.

·       Don’t bring valuable items. Dr. Bloomstrand says a phone is OK to keep in touch with loved ones. But other electronics and jewelry should stay home. Hospitals have security, but like any other place, there is a chance for theft.

Interview clips

When Gordon Ramsay raises his voice, it’s usually about an undercooked dish.

But in 2024, the celebrity chef was calling for help after a scary bicycle accident.

“It really shook me,” says the avid cyclist in a June 15, 2024, Instagram post. “Honestly, I’m lucky to be here.”

Ramsay says he didn’t suffer any major injuries, but he’s bruised and on the mend. And he’s again joining health care professionals in stressing the importance of wearing a helmet and biking within your means.

“I don’t care how short the journey is,” Ramsay says.

Biking accidents in the emergency department

Kurt Bloomstrand, MD, an emergency medicine physician who sees patients at OSF HealthCare, has treated people who have fallen off a moving object. It could be a bicycle, scooter or motorcycle. Sometimes it’s a child who’s learning their way. Or it could be an adult who didn’t hit the brakes in time.

“A lot of times what happens is they fall off the bike, put their arm out to protect themselves and injure their arm,” Dr. Bloomstrand says.

“But most importantly, we also see head injuries. We know that people who get in a bike accident have better outcomes if they’re wearing a helmet. People that are not have a higher risk of head injuries and traumatic brain injuries,” he adds.

Those head injuries are not something to take lightly, Dr. Bloomstrand says. Traumatic brain injuries can result in lifelong complications or death.

“When we see people in the emergency department who have suffered from a bicycle accident, we’re going to do a rapid trauma assessment,” Dr. Bloomstrand explains. “We’re going to pay special attention to the head. We’re going to make sure there are no signs of skull fracture or neurological abnormality. Depending on the severity of the injury, we may do a CAT scan [also called a CT scan] to make sure there’s no internal injury like bleeding on the brain. Those internal injuries are life-threatening emergencies that need to be addressed quickly.”

Advice

Check these off your list the next time you get on a bicycle or something similar:

• People of all ages should wear a helmet while biking. Young kids who are learning to ride should also wear knee elbow pads.
   
• Long shirts and pants and closed toe shoes (not sandals) are better than bare skin if you fall and skid on pavement (commonly called “road rash”).
   
• Be alert when riding. Don’t ride while tired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you’re listening to music, consider having one ear free so you can hear your surroundings.
   
• Don’t ride above your means. Choose a speed and terrain that fits your skills.
   
• Keep your bike in good condition and configured to match your height. Your feet should touch the ground when seated. This should be true for all ages. A child should not “grow into” a bike. 
  
  At night, a headlight, reflectors, flag and a horn help you to be seen and heard. Bright-colored clothing also helps your visibility at night.
   
• Look closely before crossing an intersection, and obey all traffic laws. This typically includes riding on the right side of the road. Use universal hand signals: left arm straight for a left turn, left arm bent up for a right turn and left arm bent down for a stop. Make eye contact with the driver of a vehicle before passing in front of them.
   
• One person should ride a bike at a time, and keep both hands on the handlebars. Put items like books in a backpack or basket. Don’t try to carry items and ride.
   
• If you or someone you’re with suffers a bike injury, call 9-1-1 immediately.

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He was at a Champaign, Illinois, hospital where his five-year-old daughter Gabby was fighting for her life with what was later confirmed to be Rocky Mountain spotted fever as the result of a tick bite.

Gabby died of sepsis, a condition where your body responds improperly to an infection, three days later. The heartbreak led Tony and his family to become intimately familiar with sepsis. They’re now advocates for sepsis awareness, both ensuring health care providers are following best practices and patients are speaking up.

“I remember slamming every object around me,” in the days following Gabby’s death, Tony Galbo recalls. “I said ‘there’s gotta be a law to protect patients, especially children.’,”

Sepsis and septic shock

Many of the things the Galbo family advocates for to this day are already in place at OSF HealthCare.

Kurt Bloomstrand, MD, is chair of emergency services at OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana, Illinois. He says aside from following established, rigid protocol, OSF Heart of Mary is going the extra mile for sepsis prevention in a couple of ways. One, the hospital is leading the OSF Ministry in continuing sepsis screening and alerts for people after they are admitted (not just in the emergency department). And two, the facility is among the top 10% of hospitals in the country in following sepsis protocol as measured by the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Those CMS core measures include giving antibiotics and fluids and rechecking a person’s vital signs in a timely manner.

“We’re trying to identify a set of signs called the systemic inflammatory response syndrome, or SIRS,” Dr. Bloomstrand says. “Those include a fever, a fast heart rate, fast breathing and elevated or low white blood cell count. If someone has any two of those with a source of infection, we consider them possibly septic. We want to establish treatment for them very quickly.”

Treatment includes antibiotic medication or intravenous fluids along with continued testing to pinpoint the problem.

“We take this extremely seriously because we know time is tissue. The sooner we get the treatment, the better the outcome.” Dr. Bloomstrand adds. “Any person who comes into one of our emergency departments, no matter the cause, will be screened for sepsis right from the start. When we get your vital signs, that’s screening for sepsis. If you flag positive, there are alerts that go out to our staff. Then it walks us through a very specific sepsis algorithm for treatment.”

What you can do

Dr. Bloomstrand says young kids, older adults and people with serious health conditions like heart disease and diabetes are at a higher risk for sepsis. Your best bet to prevent sepsis is to practice healthy habits and prevent infection in the first place.

• Wash your hands frequently, especially after touching high-germ areas in public like a doorknob.
   
• Avoid touching your face.
   
• Sneeze and cough into your elbow or a tissue.
   
• Stay home when you’re sick.
   
• Treat wounds and bug bites properly, quickly and under guidance from a health care provider. Dr. Bloomstrand notes that pets can also harbor ticks that can cause serious illness.

Dr. Bloomstrand adds that hospital staff are empowered to speak up if they spot a possible sepsis case. But you can also speak up on behalf of yourself or a loved one about what sepsis surveillance is being done.

“It’s appropriate to make sure you are asking these questions just to make sure you’re keeping it at the front of the care provider’s mind,” Dr. Bloomstrand says.

“If we don’t catch sepsis soon enough, it can result in organ dysfunction,” he adds. “There may be long-term complications with their kidneys, such as needing dialysis. If their lungs fail, there may be long-term respiratory issues. There may be brain issues, so they have mental status changes long-term.”

Gabby’s Law

On August 18, 2016, then-Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner came to Presence Covenant Medical Center (now OSF Heart of Mary) to sign Gabby’s Law.

“Senate Bill 2403 requires hospitals to adopt evidence-based protocols for the early recognition and treatment of patients with sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock that are based on generally accepted standards of care,” the Governor’s office said at the time. “It requires the protocols contain certain components, including those specific to identifying and treating adults and children.”

Tony Galbo recalls many meetings with lawmakers, health care groups and other stakeholders to get the plan the support it needed. And that wasn’t the end. He’s testified before lawmakers in other states and in Washington, D.C., and done countless interviews.

“Sepsis does not discriminate. It does not care about age,” Galbo says.

Interview clips - Tony Galbo

Interview clips - Dr. Kurt Bloomstrand

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“I pour coffee, help the waitresses and hostesses, bring out food,” Lindsey describes.

“I make sure everybody’s happy,” he adds warmly.

But on October 6, 2023, just steps away from the restaurant, Lindsey would have a life-changing moment. He says one minute, he was in a vehicle with his cousin. The next, he was waking up in the hospital.

In between, a good Samaritan who happened to be across the street saved Lindsey’s life, thanks to skills learned at OSF HealthCare and an alert from a smartphone app that OSF brought to Champaign.

“I’m very grateful,” Lindsey says.

Lindsey’s boss, Original Pancake House owner Eric Faulkner, can fill in the gaps of that day.

He says Lindsey’s cousin Charles picked him up from work. As they were driving away, Lindsey was laughing and joking, but suddenly slumped over and became unresponsive. Charles pulled into a shopping center parking lot and asked someone to call 9-1-1.

That’s where Shannon Walter enters the story.

A program manager at the Champaign Park District, Walter got some of her cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training at OSF. She was across the street getting lunch when she got an alert on her phone: someone close by needs CPR.

“When I pulled into the parking lot, I could see somebody pulling somebody who was unresponsive out of a vehicle and onto the ground,” Walter says.

That was Lindsey, who was in cardiac arrest, where the heart is not able to pump blood properly.

Walter quickly explained she was CPR-certified, observed Lindsey wasn’t breathing and did chest compressions for around three-and-a-half minutes until first responders arrived.

“I believe that is what saved his life and his brain function,” Faulkner says.

Lindsey agrees.

“She’s an angel,” he says. “It makes me feel really blessed. I’m glad she was there.”

Lindsey and Walter’s twist-of-fate encounter shows the importance of a couple life-saving things you can do in just a few minutes, says Kurt Bloomstrand, MD, medical director for East Central Illinois Emergency Medical Services, an OSF organization that trains first responders and CPR instructors.

One, learn CPR. It’s the missing link between when 9-1-1 is called and when first responders arrive. Dr. Bloomstrand says for cardiac arrest outside a hospital, the chance of survival is around 10%. With bystander CPR and use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), the chance increases fivefold.

Dr. Bloomstrand says good Samaritan laws exist to protect people who give first aid.

“You’re not going to hurt the person. You only have an opportunity to help them,” he says.

If you don’t have time for a CPR class, just remember this: push hard and fast on the center of the chest at 100 to 120 beats per minute. Appropriately, that’s the beat of Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. Or if you prefer a more contemporary beat, think of the chorus of The Man by Taylor Swift.

“It’s important to never be caught in a situation where you don’t know what to do,” Walter says.

Two, download the PulsePoint app, the app Walter used to jump into action. PulsePoint is a nationwide app that OSF brought to the Champaign area. It’s active in nearly 5,000 other communities. Dr. Bloomstrand explains that when a 
9-1-1 call is made for cardiac arrest, the dispatcher sends the information to first responders. If PulsePoint is active in that area, the information – scrubbed of specifics to protect privacy – also automatically goes to the app. The app then sends an alert to PulsePoint users that CPR is needed and if an AED is nearby.

The fine print for the alerts: the emergency must be in a public place, and the bystander must be within one-fourth of a mile. And within the app, you must turn on CPR alerts and let the app track your location always, not just when you are using the app. That’s necessary to know anytime CPR is needed near you.

“This is how you, as a lay person, can be a hero, a lifesaver and help somebody in need,” Dr. Bloomstrand says.

Lindsey, meanwhile, is going through rehabilitation at OSF. He also got a pacemaker, a small device that creates electrical currents to keep the heart beating at a normal rhythm.

“I feel wonderful,” he says, adding that he hopes to be pouring coffee for customers again soon.

If you would like to learn in detail how to perform CPR or use an AED, there are several options, including visiting the American Heart Association website, or calling your local hospital to see what training is available. There are two versions of the PulsePoint app for download to your smartphone. PulsePoint Respond alerts you to cardiac arrest, and PulsePoint AED allows you to catalog AEDs around you.

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My own car or an ambulance?

Sure, for minor cuts and bruises that require a trip to urgent care, the former may be appropriate.

But for things like heart attack symptoms, stroke symptoms or serious wounds, Kurt Bloomstrand, MD, says the choice is clear: call the ambulance.

Dr. Bloomstrand is an Emergency Department physician at OSF HealthCare and medical director for East Central Illinois EMS (emergency medical services). He and his colleagues have seen an alarming trend lately of people with suspected heart attack coming to the Emergency Department on their own.

“Ambulances and pre-hospital providers are equipped and trained to deal with these emergencies. We can deal with these emergencies at your home or wherever you called 9-1-1 at,” Dr. Bloomstrand says. “We’re bringing the equipment from the ED to you so we can get that treatment started even sooner and bring you life-saving treatment and medication immediately.”

For example, pre-hospital providers on site or in the back of the ambulance can perform an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG for short), which takes a snapshot of how your heart is working. If problems are found, these providers can call ahead to the hospital and have the person bypass the ED and go directly to the cardiac catheterization laboratory. That’s a time-saving and life-saving step.

On the alternative: “If you drive yourself, there’s no way to monitor you. There’s no way to treat you if something happens,” Dr. Bloomstrand says.

Other possible pitfalls: you may pass out at the wheel from your initial medical event, causing a crash that endangers you, other drivers and pedestrians. If someone is driving you, they will likely be anxious and not drive carefully. That, too, could mean a wreck.

Private vehicles are legally not allowed to speed and go through stoplights and stop signs. An ambulance can safely, saving time.

And it may seem trivial, but if you are driving to the hospital with a serious wound, you will likely make a bloody mess all over your vehicle.

Dr. Bloomstrand has also heard plenty of misconceptions about taking an ambulance.

People who live in a rural area may think, “By the time the ambulance gets to me, I may be worse off, and I could have already been at the hospital if I took myself.”

Dr. Bloomstrand counters that although it might take time for the ambulance to arrive, this time is often faster than the time it would take to get treatment by driving to the Emergency Department.

Others may believe they can’t afford an ambulance. Dr. Bloomstrand says most major health insurance providers cover the care.

Some may think, “I’m not sick enough for an ambulance.”

“It’s your emergency. We’re there 24/7 to help and assist in your emergency,” Dr. Bloomstrand says. “If you feel like you’re having an emergency, you need to call 9-1-1. We can come and evaluate you. Please don’t feel like you’re burdening the ambulance system.”

Others may just fear an ambulance in general. They’re nervous about having a needle in their arm while in a fast-moving vehicle. Dr. Bloomstrand counters by reminding you that paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are highly skilled and trained. They have been around the block – literally.

“We deal with this day in and day out. We’re trained and equipped to handle these emergencies,” Dr. Bloomstrand says.

Interview clips

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